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Aristida longispica - Schizachyrium scoparium - Diodia teres Saline Herbaceous Vegetation | Southeastern Ecology Working Gro...
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Name: Aristida longispica - Schizachyrium scoparium - Diodia teres Saline Herbaceous Vegetation
Reference: Southeastern Ecology Working Gro...
Description: This edaphically controlled grass-forb prairie association occurs on saline-sodic soils of alluvial origin in the northern West Gulf Coastal Plain and Mississippi River Alluvial Plain of Arkansas and Louisiana. The topsoil is thin silt with toxic levels of sodium and/or magnesium salts in the subsoil, and some areas are often exposed as "slick spots," which are denuded of vegetation. Although the subsoil is silt, it is essentially cemented into an impervious hardpan by calcium or other minerals. Sites therefore alternate between extremely dry and extremely wet, a condition that has been described as xerohydric. Genesis is uncertain, but salts may be "wicked" to the surface through evaporation. The so-called slick spots are rimmed by a "cryptogamic lip" of lichens, algae and diminutive vascular plants. <i>Geocarpon minimum</i> occurs in this zone in the West Gulf Coastal Plain. Farther back from the lip, <i>Cladonia</i> lichens, <i>Aristida longispica, Aristida</i> spp., and <i>Schizachyrium scoparium</i> sequentially become dominant, along with <i>Sabal minor</i> in the West Gulf Coastal Plain. <i>Schoenolirion wrightii</i> is a regionally rare species in this zone. The role of fire in maintaining this community is not understood; some areas may support relatively frequent fire, and others are too thinly vegetated to carry a fire. 
Accession Code: VB.CC.36367.CEGL008419
Plot-observations of this Community Concept: 0
      Party Perspective according to: NatureServe (organization)
Perspective from: 17-Nov-2014 to: 01-May-2019
     
  • status: accepted
  • This Community's Level: association
  • This Community's Children: [none]
Names:   Common: Upper West Gulf Coastal Plain Saline Prairie
  Translated: Slimspike Three-awn - Little Bluestem - Rough Buttonweed Saline Herbaceous Vegetation
  Scientific: Aristida longispica - Schizachyrium scoparium - Diodia teres Saline Herbaceous Vegetation
  Code: CEGL008419
  UID: ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.689006 NatureServe ExplorerNatureServe Explorer logo